Steve Nichols/DUBAI
If you want a bird's eye view of Dubai, try visiting Space Imaging Middle East (E820). The company is showing some of the first high-resolution photographic images of the United Arab Emirates, taken by the recently-launched Ikonos satellite.
Ikonos is the world's first commercial high-resolution imaging satellite, circling the Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit - meaning it follows the sun as it travels around the globe, circling the globe 14 times a day, once every 98 minutes.
Images from Ikonos, which was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California on 24 September, have unlimited uses in a number of markets including state and local government, mapping, agriculture, forestry, emergency response, utilities, telecommunications, real estate, environment, national security, transportation, and insurance and risk management.
"The potential uses for Ikonos imagery are vast and we have just begun to scratch the surface," says John Copple, Space Imaging's chief executive officer. "The value of this new source of information will create a demand like we've never seen before for imagery of the Earth."
Mohammed M El-Kadi, Space Imaging Middle East's managing director, says that the company's primary market is digital mapping.
"We can provide images of 25, five and even one metre resolution. They are ideal for producing national geo-spatial databases - highly accurate maps, if you like, of the entire Middle East."
Since it was founded in 1994, Denver, Colorado-based Space Imaging has become a world leader in providing digital Earth information for mapping, measuring and monitoring. It also has affiliates in Greece, Japan and South Korea.
It markets its image products under the company's Carterra brand name. The imagery is stored in Space Imaging's digital Carterra archive and can be made available to customers very quickly in as little as a few hours or days. Examples can be found on the net at www.spaceimaging.com.
Source: Flight Daily News
